


BtVS/AtS ficlets

by slambat



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s06e08 Tabula Rasa, F/F, do i still know how to write? lets find out together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slambat/pseuds/slambat
Summary: Post-"Tabula Rasa", Buffy shows up at Tara's dorm.
Relationships: Tara Maclay/Buffy Summers
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	BtVS/AtS ficlets

**Author's Note:**

> Written entirely at 2 AM and completely unbeta'd. Haven't written fiction in about 4 years or fanfiction in even longer - this is really me stretching my writing muscles for the marathons that are in my head. Those marathons mostly don't take place anywhere near here, but I've been thinking about Buffy/Tara a lot lately and this is my favorite time period for that ship, so...

That night, after the spell is broken, Tara goes back to the dorm she hadn’t intended to use this year and cries herself to sleep.

The next morning, Tara wakes up and heads to the bathroom, and when she gets back to her dorm Buffy is waiting outside.

Buffy asks, “Oh! I… didn’t expect you to be up so early. Do you mind if I come inside?”

“I-is this about Willow?”

“Partly, but not the way you’re thinking.”

Tara invites her in and makes them a pot of tea.

“How do you like yours?”

Tara glances over at Buffy and sees her transfixed on a candle, so she does what anyone would do. She puts her hand on Buffy’s shoulder, and Buffy almost jumps out of her skin.

“What?”

“How do you like your tea?”

“Um. Lots of sugar, o-or honey.”

“Okay.”

Tara returns with both cups of tea, Buffy’s loaded down with honey and hers with just a bit of milk.

Tara takes a deep sigh and asks, “So what did you come to talk about?”

“I kissed Spike last night. And a while ago, when we all stopped singing.”

Tara is momentarily shocked, but manages to settle her expression into a simple raise of the eyebrows.

“I didn’t want to kiss him. I don’t like him. But, I don’t know… something about him made me… feel something when I did it.”

“Does he know that that’s what’s going on?”

“I’ve told him, but I don’t think he wants to believe me.”

“Then maybe you should -- Look, Buffy. N-not that we can’t still be friends, but why are you talking to me about this?”

Buffy laughs harshly. “Who else would I talk to? Xander hates Spike so much he’d probably think I was drugged. Giles left. Dawn is my _sister_. Anya is Anya. After everything this year and then yesterday, I’m almost ready to disown Willow. I’m talking to you because she’s hurt both of us a lot, and recently.”

There’s a pause then, about 10 seconds while Tara tries to think of a way to respond to that. All she comes up with is, “Oh.” And then, a few seconds later, “Don’t disown her. She needs help, real help. If me leaving doesn’t convince her to seek it out then you’re the only one who can.”

Buffy says “I know.” Then, a second later and much quieter: “I used to be so jealous of you, for getting her to notice you. It’s probably her I should’ve been jealous of the whole time.”

Tara has enough time to wonder just what the hell that means before Buffy kisses her, hard and rough but so soft somewhere under all that. And while her body and her lips respond almost automatically, Tara thinks about pushing her off, thinks about how they should probably talk about this, but then Buffy’s left hand is cupping her breast and Buffy’s right hand is pushing her back onto the bed and she thinks _we can talk later_.

It’s not like she never imagined this, and it’s not like a rebound is going to hurt her worse than she’s already hurt. Plus, it might help Buffy, at least with not turning to Spike for a potentially much less healthy outlet.

**Author's Note:**

> I also recently published a podcast episode about Buffy and the first part of a complete episode ranking (the rest coming out weekly), if you're interested in either of those. I don't know how good this fic is (hard to tell with your own stuff), but I promise I'm much better at nonfiction writing.
> 
> Podcast: https://gerbil-tangerine-lywk.squarespace.com/podcast/buffy
> 
> Ranking: https://gerbil-tangerine-lywk.squarespace.com/reviews/buffy-f-tier


End file.
